That’s why I buy Makita power tools that don’t use batteries. So far, 20+ years on both my chop saw and table saw. Got about 15 on my variable speed corded drill. They weren’t the cheapest options, but I expect them to last the rest of my life.

They often do “make stuff like they used to”, but when we go to Target and see a mixer for $9.99 and another for $49.99, guess which one is going home with us? The one that’s made with plastic gears and costs $9.99.

At least he didn’t get RSted.

1951 Ford F-1 Pickup truck, back when I was in high school in the mid 70s.

Litigators. Not all of them, but enough. The ones that aren’t assholes tend to be very smart and often extremely funny. But the asshole to nice person ratio is fairly high. After all, these people are tasked with solving “bet the company” level litigation issues.

It’s a great car and 30 year old me would have loved it. 58 year old me, the current me, looks at it and politely declines. I’m an old dude, and I like my comfort when it comes to 4 wheels these days.

Ditch that albatross. It’s time to stop throwing good money at this no win scenario.

My prime objection to using chain lube is that they often advertise that it “doesn’t fly off”, which is great. Except that the stuff is horrendously sticky and it holds all kind of small grit and gunk that will destroy the Orings. So far so good over 40+ years of riding. The manufacturers generally recommend just…

You need to put them under stress. Interruption is a good starting point to that, as is letting them start to answer for a bit and then interrupting them with a completely different question. Another tactic is to drill down hard on them.

Maybe use a following distance index to separate the assholes? Less than 1 car length = solid asshole. 2 car lengths = asshole potential. 3 car lengths = not an asshole, very careful. 4 car lengths = likely to call in sick a lot and not take anything too seriously.

I do it in a couple ways. I ask questions that are kind of open ended about projects that went sideways or how they dealt with a tough customer. That’s the starter. Get them to tell you how they solved a problem.

Google “behavioral interviewing”. I’ve used it for years to test for assholes.

For $400, go buy an lightly used Specialized Crossroads Elite from someone that bought it and never used it. Better components, no flaky automatic and it’ll be fully assembled. You’ll probably have enough money to buy something every bicycle should have - a tool bag with inflators and a patch kit.

After tens of thousands of miles using WD40 as a chain cleaner and lube, my experience is very different. My VFR usually gets about 15K on a chain with nothing more than WD40 on it. I get a bit less on my Ducati, presumably because it makes more power and tortures the chain more than the Honda does.

It’s largely kerosene, so you can use it anytime you would have used kerosene as a cleaning agent. I have motorcycles and WD40 does a great job of getting old chain lube and general crud off the chain prior to lubricating it with a real chain lube.

I’m impressed that they’re also using the K1600GT/GTL instrument cluster. This leads me to believe that much of the BMW luxury touring bikes’ electronic functions can or could be used in this vehicle.

We put Goodyear Gatorbacks on ours and it turned in really well. My wife drove it to work every day, so we left the suspension alone while we had it.

I had a 1988 BMW K75C for a few years. I’d be riding along and the tach would quit working, sometimes the speedo would give it up at the same time. I got frustrated one time, so I just punched the instruments while I was riding along and both started working again.

The Civic VX was built for mileage, so I believe it was rolling a sub 100hp motor. The Civic EX, however, was running an early VTEC motor with about 125hp. We had a 93 EX Sedan and it was a pretty stealthy performance car. Even among cheap cars, there’s a kind of pecking order and those Civics were easily…

Perhaps you missed the more important point of that column - by focusing on stupid stuff like whether he eats his steak with ketchup we’re sending a message to his supporters that the left will pick on the most idiotic things if they think it will make points with readers. This strategy will serve no American citizen…